I Feel Like Dancing
by Screaming Kittycat
Summary: Poor little Harleen Quinzel, she had no one to rely on in the world and no one loved her. Or so she thought. Poor little Jerome met poor little Harleen once and instantly fell in love with her, he became obsessed. He wanted to give her a push just like his mother did for him. "My poor little Harley...soon you will be free. Soon you will be mine."


One night, a sweet and cute little girl was taken to the circus by her 'loving' father and his new gold digger girlfriend. They couldn't leave the poor girl at home so they dragged her along. She didn't mind it, of course, she liked the pretty colours and the happy people. It was far better than watching the crazy people her papa had to deal with.

Inside the big tent, she got to see dancers, jugglers, animals both big and small, trapezes, fire breathers, sword swallowers and snake tamers. It was beautiful and exotic. "your mother and I are going to see the sights. Get lost" the cute girl with her blonde hair in pigtails went to skip away but her father grabbed her wrist tightly "you better come back here in an hour."

"Y-yes papa" she knew better than to defy her father so with a fearful nod she ran away before her dad changed his mind.

The circus was a wonderful place, she had no money for any of the rides or games but she got to see all the sideshow attractions. "Get out you freak!" the little girl stopped her skipping and stared at where she heard a woman scream. A door to a small caravan opened and a young boy was thrown out of it. He looked so meek and helpless, his face was puffy from bruises and cut up and bleeding, his clothes were torn and his hair was stained redder than its original bright orange colour. Once he was thrown out he crouched to the floor and sniffled to himself pathetically. Taking pity on the poor boy, the little girl cautiously walked up and kneeled in front of him. The boy looked up and sniffled but said nothing.

"Hi" she replied softly, she honestly had no idea how to calm or comfort the poor boy but she was willing to try. "Can I help you clean up?"

"Why?" the boy replied, his voice was raspy and full of pain.

"I know what that feels like" she pointed to the scarf that covered her neck, with one swoop she removed the scarf to reveal the red and purple splotches that were in the shape of two hands. The poor boy knew how those marks are made.

He touched her neck softly and whispered "choking" he stated confidently.

She nodded "can I help you clean up?" she repeated, only this time she smiled. He nodded and grabbed her hand, he dragged her to a hose and sat down next to it. "This will hurt" the sweet girl went to put her scarf under the water but the poor boy stopped her by grabbing her wrist.

"Your scarf will get dirty."

"It's not important to me, I use it to hide my neck" she tried to remove her wrist but he pulled it away from the hose completely.

"No, use my jacket" he pulled off his jacket and ran it under the water, once it was completely wet he handed it to the sweet girl.

"Alright," she nodded and started to gently swipe at his skin. He hissed but stayed still so she could get rid of all the dried blood she could. The bruises could not be healed, he would have to suffer through them. "All done" she ran the jacket under the hose and rubbed off all the blood she could. "Sorry about your jacket."

"I have others."

"I'm sorry, I have to go or my papa will…" she trailed off, too afraid to continue her sentence.

"Its fine" he smiled and stood at the same time she did "by the way, my name's Jerome Valeska."

"Well, my name is Harleen Quinzel. It's nice to meet you."

 **10 years later**

Harleen Quinzel sat in the G.C.P.D and stared dully at the cop who glared right back at her. He was trying to be intimidating but she had taken shits more intimidating than this man. He had a weak, lily loving face that just screamed 'little boy'.

"Harleen, this is the fifth time you been brought in here for getting into fights publicly."

The blonde haired woman rolled her head back to look up at the person who belonged to the deep voice "Ahh Detective Gordon its only been five times this week, it's not that bad" she replied carelessly as if getting into fights weren't that bad.

"Its only been five days" he shot back "you can go Alvarez" the police officer looked hesitant but he couldn't say no to the detective. He gave one quick glare at Harleen before storming off to file a report. Once the two were by themselves Jim sat down and stared intently at the blonde haired woman. "Harleen, why do you keep doing this? Every week I found you here, same offence, different policeman. This has got to stop."

Harleen sighed and dropped her nonchalant façade "I can't help it, detective…I just…snap."

Jim was unmoved by her words "All the man did to provoke you pushed you into a wall."

"Like I said…I snapped. I can't help it, Detective Gordon." She looked off to the side, it seems that Jim Gordon was the only person that made her feel like shit when she did something wrong.

"And I know why" he looked at the fading bruise on her cheek "what did you do to deserve that?"

"I walked in when he was angry so he took it out on me" she shrugged and brought back her guarded, nonchalant composure.

"Harleen, I can book him if you testify. You shouldn't live like this."

Harleen chuckled humorlessly "You can't, he's a well renowned and well-trusted phycologist with many people in his pockets. You put him on trial, he gets acquitted and then I end up dead. So nnnnoooo I'm not gonna do that."

Jim grunted and shook his head "I'm getting real sick of evil men getting away with doing horrible things."

"It's **Gotham,** Detective Gordon, this city is evils bitch" she leant back in her chair and smirked "so, can I go now?" she asked smugly.

"Yes the man is not pressing charges but I will, once again, tell you to stop getting into fights" he leant forward "you're a bright woman Harleen, you could have a bright future, don't throw it away." He saw the hardened expression on the woman's face falter slightly but her guard was quickly put back.

"People like me don't get happy endings Detective, we get Arkham" she stood from the chair she was sitting on and patted his shoulder before casually swaying away.

Jim watched Miss Quinzel leave the G.C.P.D, she was becoming a lost cause. Soon fights will turn into the murder which will turn in cold bloodlust, he's seen it all before. Gotham has a way of making people go insane, even the best people. Harleen was the smartest 20 years old he had ever known, he had known her since she was little and was just as smart as an adult.

Gotham was going to destroy her and no matter how hard he tried to help her, set her on the right track, she was going to fall and just like she said, she'd end up in Arkham where all her potential would be wasted. Then again, isn't it already? Getting into fights, robbing stores, soon enough she'll get a gun and would kill someone…all she needed was a push, and there were plenty of people in this shit hole of a city who would gladly push her into the deep end.

He'd soon realize how right he was.


End file.
